Another year gone and a batch of cool sights, sounds and words to reflect on. There were new studio albums to be had. Box sets and reissues resonated heavily with fans of legacy artists. Memoirs popped up, unheard live sets shared. The visual side of vintage rock made the rounds as well. Something for everyone. So with that, we present a few of our favorites from 2025.
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Curious Ruminant
Jethro Tull
here doesn’t really seem to be any stopping Ian Anderson. Although diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), the flute-playing frontman of one of the world’s most iconic rock bands keeps chugging along, releasing three Tull albums in the last three years — 2022’s The Zealot Gene, 2023’s RökFlöte, and, for 2025, Curious Ruminant. Read more…
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Luck And Strange
David Gilmour
If you look at David Gilmour’s first two post-Pink Floyd solo efforts — 2006’s On An Island and 2016’s Rattle That Lock — there is this sense that the singer and guitarist was trying to create something a little outside of the box — perhaps more contemporary with less static, a bit softer around the edges, totally age-suitable. Of course, there were surges of Floydian familiarity whenever he sang or played one of his epic guitar solos. He’ll never be able to shake that off. So, nearly a decade after his last album, how does one fairly assess a new David Gilmour album in 2024? On first impression, Luck And Strange plays like a welcomed reprieve with a tighter knit of tapestry — from someone who has little left to prove and lots to live up to. Read more…
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Live
BEAT
Who’s up for a live album? You can’t beat the Live (or is it Neon Heat Disease?) album by…BEAT. Calling BEAT a “creative reinterpretation” of 80s-era King Crimson is arguably misleading. If you listen closely to this quartet, you’d swear it was the real, original thing. Read more…
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Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (50th Anniversary Edition)
Elton John
It sure is fun hearing a live version of the title track from 1975 of one of my favorite Elton John albums, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, as part of the 50th Anniversary Edition reissue. Bits and pieces of Live At Midsummer Music, Wembley Stadium 1975 is something Elton John fans have heard over the years. The crowd that day, who also enjoyed acts handpicked by John like The Eagles and The Beach Boys, were pretty much waiting to enjoy the headliner play his big hits. Those present were treated to the new album, played in its entirety full, start to finish. It’s a stellar offering from a landmark show, offered here vinyl for the first time. Read more…
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Waiting On The Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, And Goddesses
Peter Wolf may be best known as the lead singer for the J. Geils Band. His colorful life, however, has always outstripped his rock star persona. His long-awaited memoir, Waiting On The Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, And Goddesses, joyfully reassesses the man’s journey — from his humble beginnings in New York City, raised by bohemian, progressive parents with artistic streaks and astute eccentricities, to life on his own in Cambridge, where he became a beloved radio DJ and man about town as he honed his skills as a musician, businessman, and celebrity. Read more…
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Wish You Were Here 50
Pink Floyd
Though they initially struggled to follow up The Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd proved they were up to the task in 1975 with Wish You Were Here. Like its predecessor, a 50th anniversary celebration is in order, with respect to new mixes, previously unreleased tracks, and enough goodies to fill three LPs, two CDs, a box set, and a single Blu-ray Disc. Together and separately, this is Wish You Were Here 50. Read more…
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The Overview
Steven Wilson
David Gilmour
Because Steven Wilson is a modern-day renaissance man, it’s not easy to pinpoint his next move. It doesn’t help that his fanbase is segmented into various factions within worlds of their own. Some know about his multi-channel mixing and only care about the next SW audio makeover. Musically speaking, you have longtime Porcupine Tree fans whose standards are less defined yet more passionate than more recent Porcupine Tree fans. Wilson’s solo work is deliberately pushed around into all sorts of directions, bits of prog, metal, electronica, pop, rock, and folk thrown in here and there. Having such an amalgamation at his disposal, it’s no wonder Wilson brushed The Overview, his eighth solo album, with a broad stroke and equal measure of all of the above. Read more…
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Anthology Collection
The Beatles
We all want to hear new music from our favorite Vintage Rock artists. Here’s one anyone on your list will love. And it comes from none other than Ringo Starr. With the buzz of the new breed of country music stars coming out of Nashville, and a wave of non-country music personalities embracing country music, having one of the living Beatles on board makes complete sense. Starr has tossed his ten-gallon Stetson into the ring with a country record of his own called Look Up. Read more…
